The Last Straw
by N.H. Burns
Summary: It's the proverbial straw that broke the camel's back. Words that weren't supposed to mean anything cause a drastic result that has Max questioning her feelings and behaviour.
1. Chapter 1

So I was reading yet another of the great stories on this site and I stopped to think: I don't care if Max is the hottest female ever to walk the planet. A rational guy will only take so much crap before he gets irritated and walks away. But I was conflicted because I totally adore Max and Alec as a couple. This is the result.

DISCLAIMER: I own nothing except my mistakes (I never even proofread my stories, let alone have someone else do it). Feel free to correct my grammar and spelling or to tell me what you think.

– – – – – – –

It began with a little friendly ribbing; most of them did. He was lightening the atmosphere with inappropriate joking and she was peeved that he would dare try that in such a serious situation. It was a standard argument that they'd been having together – publicly – almost every day since they had claimed Terminal City as their own five months ago. In fact, she didn't mean most of the things she said to him. It was actually a way she let off steam. Luckily, he was so easy-going and such a screw-ball that he didn't care. It was a win-win situation.

Only it wasn't.

At some point in the last few months, Alec had quit letting her words roll off of him. He'd started to take them personally, to express hurt in his expressions when she called him nasty names, and to bristle whenever she made a long list – once again, publicly – of all of the dumb things he'd done. Most of them had occurred before TC.

But she didn't notice this. She was so relieved to be getting her stress out in a nonviolent way that her focus was never actually on _him_ when these "discussions" came up. And he had agreed to be SIC to her CO position, so what could he really do about it. Abandoning his people would be so very . . . 09er of him. That was a description he refused to take under any circumstances whatsoever.

So many things had become catalysts for these times. Today, it was him returning late from a supply run. Granted, he was only two hours late, but he'd taken some X6s with him, and Max had had a really bad day. She blew up. By the time she was finished with her opening argument, everyone had left the room except Dalton, and he'd stayed only out of loyalty to Alec. He kept trying to get a word in edge-wise to defend his precious hero, but neither of the older transgenics were interested in hearing what he had to say.

Fully expecting retaliation for what she knew was an unfair accusation, Max was surprised when Alec looked at her sedately, then turned to his latest partner-in-crime. "Dalton, give me the number."

Said teenager's eyes widened almost comically. "W-what?" he stammered out, taking a step back.

"What number?" Max queried. Predictably, she was ignored.

"You heard me," Alec snarled to Dalton.

"I really think you should –"

"Give me the damned number!" Alec roared in his best CO / Alpha Male tone.

This time, Dalton immediately and almost involuntarily complied, snatching a slip of paper from one of his pockets and handing it over. Alec ripped it out of his hands and started dialing on his phone.

"What number?" Max repeated. "Who's he calling?"

Dalton gave her a look that was a complicated mix of pleading helplessness and blame. Only she wasn't yet sure what she was being blamed for.

Alec held his phone to his ear and stepped far enough away that neither of his companions could hear more than his own side of the conversation. And they were listening pretty intently.

"I want to meet," he snapped. Then he paused, listening to the response. "No, you idiot – I want to meet NOW. Not tomorrow, not in a week . . . NOW." Pause. "You really must have a low opinion of my intelligence. But then, since the only people you have to compare me to are ordinaries and yourself, it's no wonder you think everyone's dumb." Another pause. "Yeah, okay. Alone is good with me. Not in the mood for company, anyway."

"What is –" was all Max got out before Dalton interrupted her with a nearly-tearful "Alec, don't."

Alec snapped his phone shut and stalked back to where the two of them were waiting. "Something came up," he said to Max. "I have an emergency meeting to attend. Perhaps you can finish this conversation with Mole?" Then he turned to Dalton, and Max watched in utter amazement as his cold facade totally melted away to reveal a pleasant man underneath. "Thanks, kid," he said fondly. He opened his mouth to say more, but then obviously thought better of it as his jaw snapped shut and he turned to leave the room. Max was too mystified to move, but Dalton didn't share the paralysis. He leapt forward, snagged a handful of his mentor's jacket, and dug his feet in.

"Please don't do this," he begged. His back was to Max by then, but she could hear tears in his voice. What was going on?

Surprisingly, Alec smiled, gently removed Dalton's hand, and replied, "It's okay. It's just a simple meeting." then he walked away. Dalton tried to follow, but this time it was Max who stopped him, her hands closing around his shirt and lifting him off the floor.

"Leggo," he complained, eyes trained on the closing door.

"What's going on?" she insisted.

When his gaze met hers, she was taken aback by the sheer ferocity in it. "Like you care," he growled. "Let go."

She dropped him, at which point he scampered out the door. Not really wanting to dwell on whatever had just happened, she started thinking of how irritated she was that Alec hadn't let her get all of her stress out before leaving. How dare he leave her not only stressed, but confused?

When she finally came back to herself enough to realise she'd been pacing up and down the halls of Terminal City, Max went straight to Command, where she found the two people she was looking for: Mole and Dix.

"Where's Alec?" she grumbled.

Mole, who had been going over some paper with Dix, looked up disinterestedly. "Aren't _you_ Pretty Boy's keeper?"

"He left. I need to find him."

"Don't you think if he left he might not have _wanted_ you to find him?" Mole inquired, in a poisonously polite voice.

"That doesn't matter!" she yelled.

At this point, Dix muttered something about needing to check the calculations of some system or other, and inconspicuously tried to back out of the room. Max caught his movements out of the corner of her eye and yelled, "Don't you DARE go anywhere!" He stopped moving.

Mole, meanwhile, was acting as though this conversation was about what color of shirt he should wear – if he started wearing them – rather than loud shouting. He took a long drag on his cigar, rolled it to the other side of his mouth, and then eventually reached up to pull it out. "Maybe you should just leave Pretty Boy alone."

"It's not even any of your business," she said through her teeth.

"Oh, actually, it's very much my business. Because Princess really basically runs this place while you 'take care' of things that don't matter. And if he's not happy, I'm not happy."

Max was just about to release the scathing retort she had on the tip of her tongue when the door slammed open, and Dalton ran in. He was breathing heavily, looking maniacal, and didn't seem to notice Max was in the room. He charged straight to Mole, grabbed a handful of shirt in a move remarkably similar to the failed one he'd tried on Alec only minutes ago, and looked up at the transhuman.

"He made the call," he said in a voice scarcely above a whisper.

Max honestly expected this statement to be met with the same confusion she'd been feeling since watching her SIC stalk away in the middle of an argument. It wasn't.

Mole's eyes widened. "What?" He didn't wait for confirmation of whatever fear he was experiencing before accusing eyes snapped up to Max. "What did you do?" he asked.

"What? I didn't do anything. We were having a civil conversation when he suddenly asked for a phone number, set up a meeting, and left."

"You let him _leave_?"

"_You're_ the one who told me I should leave him alone!" she said back, confusion being replaced with anger again.

"I didn't think even _you_ would let him do something like _this_!" Mole snarled. Then he turned to Dix. "Trace his phone," he ordered brusquely.

Dix, though, was already doing just that. Whatever bad, stupid, screwed-up thing Alec had done this time, apparently Max was the only one in Terminal City who didn't know about it beforehand. It was also apparently quite serious; it had three generally unruffleable people edgy and concerned.

"He turned it off," Dix announced sadly a few minutes later. Dalton groaned and Mole sighed loudly.

"Find him, anyway," he said. "Get a team and _find him_. NOW."

Dix and Dalton both ran out of the room while nodding. Mole ran a hand over his eyes and down his face, then reached for the table, where he had a few guns placed. Max watched this curiously, then asked, "Mind telling me what's going on?"

The transhuman looked up quickly, having forgotten she was in the room. He scowled. "Sure. Fine. You made Princess mad. He decided to leave Terminal City and sacrifice himself for us. You suck and you have crap for brains. Did you get lost anywhere in there?"

She forced her rising ire down a bit because her curiosity was higher on her list of priorities at the moment. "Sacrifice himself?" she repeated in a shockingly calm tone.

"You mean you didn't know?" Mole asked, also calming down when he realised she wasn't just trying to annoy everyone. She shook her head unnecessarily, and he went on, "Oh. Uh . . . Alec decided that if he ever wanted to leave Terminal City, he was going to give himself up to try to offer us some more freedoms."

"Give himself up to whom?"

Mole looked sidelong at her. "White, of course," he said breezily. "A pre-ordained deal. White gets X5-494, and we get government support."

"So why is this such a big deal?" Max asked honestly. "Can't we just go find him and rescue him?"

The scaly transhuman was already shaking his head. "Do you think I'd be panicking if that were an option? No, Alec planned for that. He said if it ever came to that, he wouldn't _want_ to come back. Ever."

This news was sinking in rather slowly for Max. "Uh oh," she muttered shakily. "Not good."

"No, not good," Mole agreed. "Which is why we need to find him before he's permanently gone."


	2. Chapter 2

Wow. I have to say I was totally shocked by some of the reviews I got, which is why I've decided to make a quick note before this chapter explaining myself to a lot of people who are apparently freaking out, one of whom apparently won't even _read_ the story. I was serious when I said in the beginning that I think Max and Alec are good as a couple. I also said in the story that Max didn't think she was hurting Alec by her words – she thought he didn't mind her venting. And let's face it; Alec is an idiot sometimes, too, hot or not. I'm sorry to all of those who, for some reason, expected this to be a frilly story full of cotton candy and pink bunnies.

Thanks for everyone's support. It's been fun while it lasted; pretty tough audience, though. :) I really, REALLY do appreciate everyone who read and/or reviewed – good or bad. You make me a better writer.

* * *

As bad as he had made it sound, Mole found it disturbingly easy to locate and rescue the prodigal transgenic. He'd forced Max to stay behind and lead TC while he went out with Dalton and three other transgenics to find White and Alec. In a surprising twist of fate, Max had admitted she didn't think she was in any state of mind to be leading missions, and she probably needed to get her thoughts in order before she met up with her SIC again.

The rescue team – Team Rescue Alec from His Own Stupidity, or Team RAFHOS, as Mole liked to call it – managed to narrow down possible locations for meetings with White. Knowing what they did about both the cultist and their own fellow transgenic, they could automatically eliminate most of the city. No open areas, no sewers, no businesses, no cops, no obnoxious civilians that might get in the way. That left water areas and abandoned warehouses.

Dalton said it had to be a place Alec knew pretty well since he couldn't have gotten an address _and _directions in the one second it had taken Alec and White to arrange the spot. Subtracting everything except places that the two of them would both be familiar with, Team RAFHOS came up with only two likely areas: the warehouse where White had made Alec promise to kill three transgenics in return for his own life, or Jam Pony. Having checked out the latter, they were pretty confidently on their way to the warehouse now.

Mole found it interesting that after he'd explained the situation to Max, she portrayed a caring side not many people knew she had. She was genuinely worried about Alec, and the rescue team, and what White would do. And she wanted everyone to know she hadn't meant to hurt him. Yes, she'd been unfair, but she honestly hadn't realised she was getting on his last nerve.

While everyone acknowledged, understood, and even mostly accepted her explanation, no one wanted her to go on the mission to rescue Alec, anyway, which was why it was a good thing she decided not to go. This whole situation had actually improved Mole's relationship with her. He hadn't meant what he'd said about Alec taking care of everything, and she knew it. Things were frequently said in anger that weren't to be taken personally, she'd said.

The rescue itself was pretty anticlimactic. Wherever White was, he wasn't with his prisoner, and the familiar cult guards he had left were fairly easily dispatched with the skill set and surprise advantage – not to mention the high-powered rifles that Alec had somehow "procured" on a recent supply run – the rescue team had brought with them. Alec was hanging, shirtless, from a beam in the ceiling by his hands. Initially, there was fear that he'd been whipped, but that was quickly laid to rest when the team saw that he had only bruises and no ugly welts across his chest and back. Just beatings, then.

Pistol, one of the X5s that had joined the team, jumped up to release Alec from his bonds, and they crashed to the ground together. The latter was semi-conscious, eyes glassy and not especially aware, blinking to clear his vision and probably to figure out why his captors weren't beating him this time around.

Mole reached over and gently drew Alec to his feet, leaning him against the wall while allowing a critical eye to examine injuries. Some trouble breathing indicated a few cracked or broken ribs. Blood on the side of the head, but not much; minor head wound. Bruised jaw . . . well, the dumb pretty boy had probably been mouthing off until his captors lost their patience. As usual.

"You can walk," Mole growled out, not letting any of his concern or feelings show in his voice.

"Aw, Mole," Alec returned with a ghost of his usual smirk, "you're the best lizard-friend a guy could hope for."

Mole rolled his eyes, snorted his disgust, and stepped away. Alec grabbed his friend's sleeve, his gaze suddenly sober. "I mean it," he added softly. "I didn't want to go out that way, and I knew you'd come save me. It's why I set it up in the first place."

This got a better reaction from the transhuman, who almost forgot himself enough to smile. Instead, he gruffly replied, "Yeah, I'm a regular knight in shining armour." He pulled out the rest of his cigar and dropped it haphazardly in the filthy water below them. "Now we have to get going. The Queen back in TC is probably plotting the deaths of anyone who dares to come back without you."

Alec grinned, and Mole allowed himself to be a crutch again as the two of them moved quickly down the sewer pipes, two team members scouting ahead while two covered their rear. "I'm in serious trouble when we get back," he muttered, more to himself than as a conversation starter.

"Beautifully understated," Mole rejoined. "But there's something you should know –"

"She's gonna kill me."

"Well, she might want to use you as a human punching bag for a while, but I want to tell you that she said –"

Alec sighed. "Well, better to go crazy in Terminal City than in White's clutches." Mole growled softly, and Alec looked over at him. "What's your problem?"

"I don't know what it is about you X5 series idiots," he grumbled. "You never listen to anyone with your best interests in mind."

Giving his friend a look of utter confusion, Alec hesitantly said, "Uh . . . something you want to tell me?"

The transhuman rolled his eyes again. "If I start, you're gonna have to shut up. I can't talk, carry you, and smoke at the same time. You should be grateful I decided to bring you instead of my Cuban."

Alec laughed, even though the action brought a burning sensation across his abdomen. "Go ahead. I won't interrupt you again."

"Finally. A miracle. Maybe God really exists."

The blond X5 used the arm he currently had wrapped around Mole's shoulders to flick the latter's head. "Start talking, lizard boy."

"She's sorry," Mole said. She'd also told him she realised she couldn't survive without Alec around, and she wanted Mole to tell him how much she missed him. No way in hell. "But she's probably going to tell you that herself. Once we get back, she's called a meeting for most of us in her office. Wants to talk to everyone."

Alec groaned, and it wasn't due to pain. "Great. When you say 'everyone,' do you mean –"

Mole nodded, though Alec was no longer looking at him. "Everyone I associate with, anyway."

"Ah, man. No rest for the stupid people."

"Damn straight."

The rest of the journey was uneventful, and, as promised, once someone had checked Alec over to make sure he wasn't dying, he was quickly escorted into Max's office. Mole, Dalton, Dix, Luke, Joshua, and half of the rest of TC was leaning against the two walls closest to the door. Max was sitting at her desk, and the only empty seat was across from her. Impatient hands ushered him into the chair and the door was shut.

Silence reigned for almost two whole minutes, Alec and Max staring at each other with irritation, relief, and desperation warring between them. Then Max cleared her throat – loudly – and asked, "What in the world were you thinking?"

At this, Alec let out a breath. He had been afraid they were going to have a gushy moment of something, but she was just going to yell at him again. Business as usual, and after his morning, normalcy was something he craved. "I voluntarily surrendered myself to our worst enemy, Maxie. I wasn't thinking."

"Least he's got that right," someone muttered from behind. Alec bristled but managed to not respond.

"You had to have thought this was a good idea for some reason. What was it?" Max continued the questioning as though nothing else had happened.

"Can't you just yell and get it over with? I'm exhausted."

And he was; she could see that as she looked at him. "I'm not going to yell at you, Alec. I'm just curious."

"Was that half of Terminal City curious, too?" he asked, waving a hand behind him at the people who were mostly quiet.

"We're all concerned about you. We just want to know why you did it so we can understand and help fix the problem."

"What problem?" he asked suspiciously.

She sighed. "Whatever problem made you voluntarily surrender yourself to our worst enemy."

Alec spent the next precious seconds gauging her face and eyes. When, with utter amazement, he found nothing but honesty there, he decided to just tell the whole truth. "The plan was to give myself up to White in exchange for governmental freedoms."

Max looked skeptical. "I know you're not that stupid, Alec. That wasn't your whole plan. You had to have something else in mind."

He sighed. "Look, I figured I could escape. I had no intention of letting him maim and kill me." She snorted. "Okay, I figured he'd probably maim me before I could do something about it," he amended hastily. "I just wanted some time away from Terminal City."

"From me?" she asked.

"Yeah. From you."

She nodded, even though she didn't actually understand and definitely didn't agree with his behavior. "I had no idea you were offended by what I said," Max gently apologised. "I never would have done it if I had."

"Maybe if you two had any sort of powers of communication, none of this would have happened," Mole interjected with some annoyance. Dix snorted and Dalton giggled. _Giggled_.

"Why are they here, again?" Alec asked quickly, eyes roving over the large group of people in the room.

"Because I owe you an apology for things I did to you publicly, and I wanted to make it a public apology," Max responded.

"So you're telling me that you don't think I'm a stupid screw-up?"

Max shifted uneasily. "Of course not. You'd know I was lying. I'm telling you that I care about your feelings. I wanted you to lead Terminal City _with_ me for a reason – I can see your potential. And I was right; you're a great leader once you decide to face responsibility. You take care of your people, you know everyone, you keep peace, you keep everyone . . . well . . . happy. And I respect that." Alec opened his mouth to speak, but it wasn't his turn yet, so she plowed ahead. "That being said, you goof off when it's inappropriate. You take unnecessary risks. Sometimes you don't think things through. Those are things you could improve on."

"This is supposed to be an apology?" Alec asked with irritation.

"Hear me out," Max said, jumping up to grab his arm as though to stop him in spite of the fact that he hadn't moved. "I think you make mistakes. I _know_ I make mistakes. I've had a lot of them pointed out to me in the past day. I also think that this makes us human. We may be smarter, stronger, and faster – but we're not robots. We're people, with feelings and desires. That's not wrong. What's wrong is tricking people into doing your work for you, or making a joke out of a very serious situation, or yelling at someone to make yourself feel better." She sat down again.

Alec had sat remarkably calmly through this speech until the end, when he seemed affronted. "I never yelled –"

"No, that was me," she interrupted with a sad smile. "And I'm sorry. I thought if I blamed you for all of the things going wrong in TC, that I'd feel better about my own leadership skills. The truth is that I don't know if I'm doing a good job and you were a convenient target. I yell, I blame, and I am not always as nice as I could be. Those are things I can improve on." Alec raised an eyebrow but stayed silent this time. She continued, "And I fully expect you to tell me about other things I can improve on . . . in a constructive, calm, helpful way. I'll promise to do my best to do the same. If you're really hurt by something I say, you have to tell me. Let's try communication."

Alec was, astonishingly, nodding along with her words now. He had his gaze fixed on the desk between them, but she knew he was listening. When she finished and waited for his response, he lifted his head. His eyes were unreadable, and they stared at each other, unspeaking, for a few more minutes. Then he held his hand out to her across the desk. She took it without hesitation.

"It's a deal, Maxie," he said with a hint of his normal personality bleeding through the serious words. "I'll try. It's not so good for us to be fighting amongst ourselves, anyway. We have enough enemies already."

Max smiled. "So you're not going to be setting up any more underplanned meetings with White, are you?"

"Hell, no," came the quick answer. "Once was enough for me. I usually learn from failed plans pretty quickly. It's one of my best qualities."

Still smiling, she let go of his hand and stood up. "Anything else you want to say to me, or anyone else, for that matter?"

He stood awkwardly, looking like a defeated kid who was grossly lacking in confidence. He turned to the group of his trusted friends and allies – his _family_ – and announced, "I've been a fool, and I'm sorry. To all of you."

"I didn't mean you had to apologise," Max said hurriedly. "I wasn't trying to imply that –"

"We can't be tiptoeing on eggshells with each other forever, Maxie," he said just as quickly, his head swiveling to look at her. "I'm a big boy now; I can handle a little criticism now and again."

She spread her arms to each side on the desk and leaned toward her SIC. "Are you ever going to stop calling me Maxie?" she asked with a glint of humour in her eyes.

"Hey, I am who I am," Alec insisted, smirking as he backed away with hands raised in surrender. "You can't expect me to turn into the serious supersoldier I always avoided being."

"And I don't want to, either," she insisted. They were smiling at each other, something friendly sparking in the air between them. When Mole cleared his throat, they both jumped guiltily and seemed to notice that they weren't alone.

"It's been a fun cry-session and all," he announced, "but I'm done here. You two are making me sick." He went out the door, followed closely by a few smiling transgenics and transhumans. Joshua waited until everyone else was gone before looking at them carefully.

"Fellas get busy?" he asked innocently.

Alec started choking on his own spit, bending over and coughing furiously in an attempt to clear his lungs. Max looked worriedly at him, trying to ignore the blushing that she knew was creeping across her face. "Of course not, Josh," she answered. "We've only just now decided to be on speaking terms."

Joshua looked confused, then shrugged, clapping Alec heartily on the back to help him stop choking. Max winced for him; those ribs had to be painful. Alec coughed a few times more, then looked up to the dogman next to him with a small smile. "Thanks, big guy," he rasped out.

Joshua then nodded, patted Alec much more gently on the back, and turned to Max. "Should get busy."

Max was afraid that would bring on another coughing fit, but Alec didn't even twitch, already bent over with his hands on his knees. She couldn't see his face and he didn't seem inclined to respond to Joshua's statement. She forced a meager smile. "One step at a time, Josh."

He nodded, apparently determining that that was a satisfactory answer, and left the room. The remaining occupants stayed silent for a few uncomfortable seconds. Max figured she'd have to break the tension by some stupid small talk, but it was Alec who first spoke.

"One step at a time, eh?" he asked softly.

Now she was glad they couldn't see each other's expressions. "I didn't want to hurt his feelings." But she couldn't leave it at that, and she knew it. She'd tromped his feelings into the ground too often not to allow him the opportunity to do it back to her. With a deep breath, she added, "And I don't want to rush you."

He didn't cough again, but she saw the muscles in his back tense up as his whole body stiffened. "Rush me?" he repeated calmly, straightening up and starting to turn around.

_Don't look at me_, she pleaded in her mind. However, it was in vain; he turned around and they were facing each other once more. He didn't seem to be guarding his emotions for once, and she already knew she wasn't. It was probably the second honest conversation they'd ever had with each other – the first being when she told him about Ben. His eyes were giving her the same look they had then – trust and friendship.

"Yeah," she admitted. "I know I haven't been the nicest person to be around . . ."

He grinned. "Nice to look at, though."

She rolled her eyes characteristically at him, but she was amused and they both knew it. "It's just . . . I . . ." she trailed off, unable to meet his eyes anymore. Instead, she found a fascinating piece of paper on her desk and let her emotions run over her. With both relief and disappointment, she realised this was neither the time nor the place to admit she might have feelings for him. What she'd told Joshua was right; they were only just speaking to each other again. She looked back up at him and said, "Yeah. I don't want to rush you."

He nodded in understanding. She knew from his expression that he would let it drop, though even an ordinary would have been well aware that she was hedging. His eyes flicked to the door. "What say we go try leadership again? I think they're all waiting for us."

"Don't let me screw it up," she whispered.

"We'll help each other."


End file.
